Hi there, I am wondering if anyone has ever genuinely utilised the Ketogenic and/or zero carbohydrate way of eating to coincide with your current treatment plans and if so what it has done for you?

I have been following the work of very advanced nutritional science now for a few months and am extremely interested in the work of Professors Dominic D'Agostino and Thomas Seyfried with their continued research efforts into the destruction of cancer cells by eliminating sugar and carbohydrates (glucose) in our diets, replacing them with a range of healthy fats and adequate protein. (Warburg effect )

A close relative of mine was diagnosed with Stage 3 OC in Jan 2016. Her diet has always been primarily a high carb, vegetarian based diet and she tested positive for the BRAC 1 mutation.

I dare say people will not agree with me, but I'm getting more and more convinced that, particularly in adults, cancers are born out of metabolic assaults to the body, one of which is diet. It is a sad thing for me to see our NHS still promoting a healthy diet as a high carbohydrate, low fat one and even more so the vast amount of advertising put in to make us believe what is healthy and what isn't.

Anyway back to my original point, I would be interested in understanding what you all eat and whether you feel there is any truth to this sugar/carb argument? Thank you all .

10 Replies

I agree that some cancers are metabolic but there are many reasons we get cancer. I'm not following the diets you're talking about but I did change and became a vegan even before diagnosis. I think there is also an inflammatory aspect to the whole thing, especially looking at my history, that why I opted for the vegan route as meat and dairy causes inflammation in the body.

I am also following the protocol by the cancer oncology clinic n London who prescribe metformin and a statin for the same reason they believe cancer is metabolic and these drugs disrupt the supply of fuel to the cancer cell. Only time will tell if it works for me but I'm hopeful.

And yes I totally agree about the NHS being behind the game when it comes to diet. The large cancer hospitals in America give specific advice on diet.

As far as cancer I will try and keep it simple. All of our cells have insulin receptors on them that sense the concentration of glucose availability. Cancer cells have between 10-100 times more insulin receptors on them then do non-cancerous cells. Most cancer cells have a mitochondrial defect, the mitochondria of the cell can only use glucose as a fuel source, it cannot use fat. The simple reason is that you need oxygen to burn fat. Cancer cells because of all the insulin receptors gobble up all the available glucose in the blood and cancer cells grow very rapidly, their demand for fuel outpaces the energy output of fat. You need oxygen to burn fat. Fat is an aerobic fuel, glucose is an anaerobic fuel. Anaerobic = glucose can be used as a fuel source with no oxygen. The fuel needs of the cancer cells FAR outpace the fuel availability of fat cells. This is why the mitochondria have a defect where they cannot use fat as fuel. On a ketogenic diet the body uses PRIMARILY fat for fuel for almost all of your tissues, the very small amount of glucose needed for the brain and red blood cells (and a few others) your liver makes with some protein amino acids and by-products of fat metabolism. The fuel source (glucose) has been cut off for the cancer cells. The cancer cells cannot use fat for energy. Also cancer cells need 3 things to grow and multiply. They need fuel (glucose) and parts (protein) and insulin. Now protein is our #1 macro-nutrient, we need protein no protein=0 life. There are 20 different protein amino-acids. The human body makes 11 of these amino acids , so they are called non-essential amino acids. There are 9 protein amino acids that are essential, the human body needs to take them in via the mouth. If you are healthy individual and are active you will need more protein than someone like me who is very lazy. If you have cancer you want eat as close to 0 carbohydrate (fuel glucose) as possible. You need to eat enough protein to maintain your daily needs to maintain your lean tissue and keep up with maintenance and repair of the human body. In this situation Of cancer that I have just explained, the protein amount is probably 1 gram of protein per KG of body weight. You want to have what Dr. Seyfried calls a 1-1 ratio of glucose to ketones in the blood. This would be a blood glucose of 70 ( 4.00MMOL and blood ketones of 4.00MMOL. Some will even have glucose levels of 55-65 mg/dl in this scenario of a protein limited ketogenic diet. This diet will mimic fasting to some extent. You can also add in total water fasts for 24-48 hours or longer if you want. But if you do a protein restricted ketogenic diet like Dr. Seyfried uses you should be golden. Now the faster growing tumors the cancers that grow very quickly can get their glucose from the fermentation of glucose, these are harder to defeat. But normal cancers like breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer , most brain tumors, this approach in my humble opinion, will defeat the cancer.

Yes I agree with you on the sugar front. I have not gone down the ketonic diet route but am reducing sugar intake. I need to gain weight at the moment. I am interested in fasting pre chemo too, but again with my current weight situation I think it would do more harm than good.

Saw a post today actually. Not certain if it is something worthwhile and suitable for you but I will send you the link in any case . Really hope it is what they say it is, and it starts on April 12th as a Web broadcast. Please let me know how you get on if you end up watching it. Here is the link;

Eighteen months ago I downloaded a good app on my iPad called KetoDiet which has recipes and advice for a Keto diet. However having bought in ingredients etc I was then told by my oncologist and dietician that I needed to go on a completely low fibre diet so trying to do that alongside the Keto diet would be too restricting.

I am not convinced by the sugar feeds cancer hypothesis but I am interested in anyone who is following a ketogenic diet and how they are finding it.

I think so much more research is required as to what does or does not encourage tumour growth. For example my tumour was tested and found it expressed folate so I was on one trial where I was on an anti folate drug. This would contradict the normal advice that folate rich foods would be good against cancer.

Unfortunately standard NHS rhetoric is around 30 years (maybe more) behind when it comes to how we should eat to combat the vast array of metabolic disorders we see in today's western world society.

If you need some further evidence of how well eating high fat very low carb can assist, then simply look up the work of one of my friends, NHS Cardiac Consultant Dr.Aseem Maholtra. Yes he's not a cancer specialist but it's thought provoking to think a consultant who specialises in the heart advocates we eat high fat!!!!

It's the same for that as it is for cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, high blood pressure, colitis, and so many other chronic and serious ailments.

I have breakfast generally after midday as this way of eating inhibits hunger due to the mitochondria becoming fat burners instead of sugar burners. I would usually eat a few eggs and fatty bacon cooked in real butter or coconut oil.

Dinner could be ribeye steak, with Kale, broccoli etc or ground beef with low starch veggies for example.

Thank you. That's interesting. The eggs, bacon, butter, coconut oil, steak and cheese would be fine for me but I can't eat kale, broccoli, other veggies or nuts as they are too high in fibre and I would be at risk of a bowel blockage. I am also keen not to lose any more weight so I would need to assess whether I could get enough calories.

I would recommend if you decide on the ketogenic diet to up your protein levels to 1.5g per kg of body weight a day in order to maintain your weight if the standard 0.8kg per kg doesn't work for you and you're losing too much weight.

Look into drinking bullet proof coffee's in the morning to up your fat intake. As for being blocked, trust me when I tell you this will never happen eating a LCHF diet because your insides turn into a well oiled slide! Lol

Good luck...trust me it will work if you stick to it. First few weeks are the toughest due to the carbs coming out your system.